It is compatible with earlier versions of the client products that use RCL from earlier releases. The daemon versions for this release are:

lmgrd 11.10

ibmratl 11.10

The advantages of moving to Rational License Key Server (RLKS 8.1.3) (11.10) server is Security and Performance; these are the two most important aspects that has been emphasized on this release. Users will benefit with a more detailed logging mechanism which will cater to the aspects of understanding any warning(s) or errors on the server side also help them keep a check on the performance of the license server.

Enhanced serviceability

In terms of serviceability enhancement, RCL 8.1.3 provides a well-structured logging mechanism to RCL Clients and captures the important activities going behind the scenes which are easily accessible to the end user. It gives you the output in XML format which can viewed in web browsers. This is all very exciting since it makes the lives of support folks and developers a lot easier. The RCL logging configuration file, RCL_Log_Config.txt is stored in a default location and contains the different parameters for logging like location, product, version, size, loglevel, maxfiles etc. The RCL log for the Rational Product(s) captures time Stamp and the event associated, provides a message status which is in text format and a Message ID along with the severity of the logged event with a status on the user action. This detailed level of information in the logs would certainly help end users to understand any warning or errors and help them resolve more confidently without having to call support.

This logging capability will be seen only in products which have integrated RCL 8.1.3 and enabled logging. Serviceability per say is only restricted to clients. There is no serviceability supported added to other components – like License Key Administrator (LKAD), Borrow Tool, RLKS Server.

Support for Early Return of Borrowed licenses

Another important feature with this release is that you return a product license before the expiration date for Borrow enabled products. The Borrow Tool is not new in RCL 8.1.3, it was introduced in RCL 8.1.2 however limited to 'Borrow Products' support only. With the advent of RLKS 8.1.3 ‘Borrow Tool’ we would now have an option of Early Return of Borrowed products that helps in

Enables effective usage of product licenses.

Supported for ‘Borrow enabled' floating licenses

Works on License servers 8.1.2 onwards.

RCL 8.1.3 Borrow Tool has the “Return Product” button enabled and available on selecting one borrowed product from Borrowed Products table. On Clicking on “Return Products” button by selecting one or more borrowed products, It will go ahead with the Return Early operation.

Installation Manager based installation of RLKS 8.1.3 on UNIX

From RCL 8.1.3, RLKS installation on Unix platforms will be done through IBM Installation Manager (IM), there will not be any more shell script based installation of RLKS. You need IM version of 1.5.2 for RLKS installation. Here only one instance of RLKS 8.1.3 installation can be done on a Unix machine there is an Option to start the license server at the end of the installation. There is also an Xterm window during start/stop server to indicate the status to the user. The Intention of all of this is to give the users better hands on view and help them administer control through a UI rather than through the console.

One highlight around the Installation Manager based RLKS installation is that the license file import screen will need the user to input the license file path and port number. This installation screen is unique to Unix license server installations.

In order to upgrade to RLKS 8.1.3, you need to backup the license file used by older version of RLKS installation. Uninstall/remove the older version of RLKS installation and start the installation of RLKS 8.1.3. Configure the backed up license file in the configuration page of RLKS 8.1.3 installation.

To conclude, RLKS 8.1.3 has some really nice features added which will greatly benefit clients in understanding the issues through improved logging, a good UI experience to users deploying RLKS on UNIX platforms and added flexibility of returning borrowed licenses earlier. For more details you could also refer to the release notes of 8.1.3 which can be viewed post installation or by choosing the "more Info" link while using the IBM Installation Manager to Install this release.

IBM Rational DOORS Next Gen is supported on Jazz platform helping you to collaborate with other Jazz platform tools like Rational Team Concert and Rational Quality Manager in your environment.

IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation provides additional features like:

Enhanced collaborative environment for requirements management in support of engineering practices and project collaboration for complex and embedded systems; interoperability between versions of IBM Rational DOORS.

Advanced web support for rich text formatting, diagrams and graphics for capturing and managing requirements.

Integrated requirements management tools to help drive better design, development and testing during the software engineering lifecycle.

Expanded planning and lifecycle capabilities with compliance to industry standards and regulations.

Rational DOORS Next Gen has assumed the place of Rational Requirements Management (RM) for the Jazz platform that adds a requirements definition and management application on top of that common platform.

Now let’s discuss the DOORS Next Gen licensing concept.

DOORS Next Gen is the name rendered to the DOORS installation based on Jazz platform where you can enrich your client from a DOORS Next Gen Analyst or a Requirements Composer Client Access license. The contemporary version of the DOORS thick client is available too; this is DOORS 9.5.

Notice the fact, as per the screenshot above, that DOORS Next Gen and Rational Requirements Composer are based on Jazz platform activated by authorized or floating CALs (Client Access Licenses).

The Jazz admin can assign the licenses to the users by logging in to the License Management page which defines the level of access for each user.

Points to remember

DOORS 9.5 does not check out the license from the Jazz Team server; instead a license server is required to host the license and an environment variable TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE.

An IBM Rational DOORS Next Gen license is available at no extra cost to clients with active subscription and support for Rational DOORS.

DOORS Next Gen and Rational Requirements Composer are products derived out at different requirement management levels, however either one of the licenses will work for the other.

The same web-based Requirements Management capabilities are available to both Rational DOORS Next Gen and Rational Requirements Composer users.

I hope you've got the info you are looking for, but you might still have some questions in mind. If so, I invite you to take a look at the FAQs section below and to check out the Rational Common Licensing Support Community for even more licensing support tips, tricks, how-tos and community delivered assistance.

FAQs:

Are there differences generating the licenses for DOORS 9.5 and DOORS Next Gen?Both are absolutely the same. Generating the license for DOORS 9.5 via the License key center also generates the license for DOORS Next Gen Analyst (Jazz license).

Is there a role based licensing model for DOORS Next Gen on Jazz platform? Yes. Refer to the screenshot below.

Can DOORS Web Access (DWA) 9.5 acquire a license of DOORS Next Gen?DWA is the name for the client installed in the bundle with DOORS 9.5. Hence DWA still retains the way of checking out a license by defining an environment variable TELELOGIC_LICENSE_FILE. However DOORS Next Gen can be accessed as a web

I do not see a license that can be generated for DWA 9.5 on the license key center. How do I go about it?DWA Edit or Review license generated with the DWA 1.5 with maintenance applied, greater than 14th Dec 2012, you can use DWA 9.5.

DWA 9.5 is launched and I do not have a license for DWA. How can this be explained?DWA 9.5 can also be launched with a DOORS 9.5 license. If you have a DOORS license, it stands explained.

IBM Rational products requests licenses in a specific order. In an organization we may have combination of authorized user, floating, suite, point-product licenses in the environment, it is essential that we understand the license usage order.

Now let’s try to understand the license usage order. An IBM Rational product that users IBM Rational Common Licensing will request the license in the following order.

Authorized user license before floating license. An IBM Rational product will request for an authorized user license before a floating license regardless of whether it is a floating license or point-product license.

Point-product license before a Suite license.For example: IBM Rational Purify is sold as a standalone product and as a part of Rational Suite. Among the group of authorized user license and floating license, Purify will first request a Purify license, and then request various Rational Suite licenses in specific order.

Suite license of the last Rational Suite installed.

For version 7.0 of IBM Rational products, the license key usage order has changed. In releases before 7.0, when a Suite product was being installed, the Rational License Key Administrator (LKAD) application would first try to find a license key corresponding to the Suite. If the Suite key was not available, LKAD would then look for a key corresponding to the product that was running.

You can use the License Usage Mapper in LKAD to change the release 7.0 license usage order or have the application not search for any or all Suite keys.

The table below describes the license usage order for each IBM Rational Product that uses IBM Rational Common Licensing.

Now let’s check how to change the license usage order. Any changes made in the license usage order can be reversed to previous setting by clicking the "Restore to Defaults" in the license usage mapping window.

To change the license usage order:

Launch IBM Rational License Key Administrator.

From the menu bar, click on Setting -> License Usage Mapper.

In the License Usage Mapper Window make sure that correct product is selected in the "Installed Products". The check boxes that are selected indicates which licenses the license server can check out for the selected product In "License Usage Order".

The order of license usage can be changed by clicking on the Up and Down buttons. Ensure the check boxes next to these licenses are selected.

Click OK.

The license usage order that you set on your computer is tied to your user ID. If different users log in to your computer with their own user IDs, the license usage order that you may have changed resets to the default order. The new users can set the license usage order for their user IDs. Their settings do not affect your settings.

I am sure we all want to know, how our “IBM Rational product licenses are being used” it would be useful to track what licenses your company have purchased year by year and what is the available count in the pool. How about you knowing on what is the order number ( Sales Order number/Order ID ) for a record, under which these licenses are purchased, Or when the licenses that you purchased are expiring, in order to be prepared for renewing or purchasing a new set of licenses from IBM, Whether you are in a large enterprise with hundreds of users using multiple applications, or a small or medium business with a handful of users, you want to know this information for your investment decisions.

Let's understand the results of the license availability analysis, In order to reach here you may want to login to License key center, you will find “license availability report” on to your left under license management section.

A license availability report can be downloaded up to a maximum of 200 lines, please note that you might need to go to the next page to download additional lines.

The report will show you the number of licenses that you’ve registered and the number of licenses available. Please note that in some cases you have access to a lot of different product within the same or different part number. License keys are not equal to entitlements and it’s within your responsibility to make sure you use only what you are entitled to.

You may choose from the drop down, on how you may want to search ( using what attribute ), you also can filter/choose between accounts as shown in the picture below, and click on search line items,

Also, in order to get results for a specific time frame can be selected from, From and To sections, ( Click in the box and the calendar will be auto-populated as shown ).

How to get your order details:

In order to get your order details, please click on the order ID / Line # ( In the above image “Internal Use ONLY 2014 EMEA“ ). You will get details like,

Listed below you will find a box for each Rational license line item associated with your order. Select the checkbox to the left of the line item to get the license keys associated with that item. You may see multiple checkboxes for one line item if you purchased an IBM Rational product consisting of multiple products bundled together.

Fix Central allows you to search, select, order, and download fixes to your system with a choice of delivery options. Fixes provide changes to your software, Licensed Internal Code, or machine code that fix known problems, add new function, and keep your system, software, or Hardware Management Console operating efficiently.

Fix Central has been designed to make it easy to find and obtain fixes by providing multiple search and ordering options.

These include the following:

Search by APAR or SPR identifier

Search by Fix ID

Search by arbitrary text

Search for recommended groups

Limit search results by category, product, release, and platform

Include prerequisite and corequisite fixes

Download using Download Director, HTTP, or FTP

The following are common fix related terms used in Fix Central:

Group:A collection of related fixes created for our customers’ convenience. For example, they may be fixes that IBM recommends most customers install for a specified level of the product (that is, the release of the product on a specified operating system), or for a particular solution, involving updates to more than one product. This collection is a reference to these fixes, but not an actual repackaging of those fixes.

Fix Pack:A cumulative collection of all fixes available to registered customers since the last release of the product. It can include fixes that have not been previously released and can span multiple products or components. Usually, a fix pack can be applied on top of any earlier maintenance.

Refresh Pack:A cumulative collection of all of the function and fixes that have been made available since the last major release of the product. The function and fixes might not have been previously released, and they can span multiple products or components. A refresh pack can be usually be applied on top of any earlier maintenance.

Interim Fixes:A tested and verified fix. It can contain fixes for one or more product defects (APARs). If a given fix is listed in a fix pack for the affected product, we recommend that the fix pack be applied, rather than the interim fix. However, there may be cases where your situation calls for the installation of an individual interim fix.

NOTE: Fix Central may require you to log in using your IBM Registration user ID. IBM Registration is a central location for user information used throughout IBM web sites. If you have a sign-on to IBM web sites like Alphaworks or Passport Advantage, this signon is a valid IBM Web ID and can be used to log in to Fix Central. If you are prompted to sign in with an IBM ID and you do not have one, follow the register link provided on the Fix Central Sign On page. Creating an IBM Web ID is a one time, free process.

When you renew support for the certain rational products listed below, the order will not flow in to rational license key center, instead the PA (Passport Advantage) website would get updated with the latest software versions.

The reason for these products not to flow into LKC (license key center) is because they work on version based concept. What is a version based concept? It is products which are designed to work without the maintenance expiry date in the license file.

For Example: Here is a “version based license”. You have a permanent license key with no maintenance expiration date.

INCREMENT ClearQuest rational 1.10000 permanent 32 EB37995684D9 \

VENDOR_STRING="0|Floating|0| 0" DUP_GROUP=UH \

Hence the latest maintenance renewal will not appear in the license file.

Below are the list of Rational product that flow into the License key Center after support renewal are:

Rational Change

Rational DOORS

Rational DOORS Web Access

Rational Focal Point

Rational Logiscope

Rational Publishing Engine

Rational Rhapsody

Rational Statemate

Rational Synergy

Rational System Architect

Rational TAU

Rational TTCN

The above products work on “date based concept” where it is mandatory to have the latest maintenance end date to appear in the license file.

A date based license key has the Subscription and Support (S&S) end date built-in as the license key version.

For example: 2010.1231 is Dec 31, 2010, the end date of your current S&S. The license key is used with any software version released before the end date of the built-in license version (S&S end date). To use any newer release, the license key must be updated with new S&S orders for each period of renewal.

When receiving your S&S renewal email, you must enter the IBM License Key Center and upgrade your license key using your S&S Renewal Order. Most date based licenses can be used for earlier versions as long as nothing else has changed, like FEATURE, INCREMENT, and so on.

Here is an example of a date based license. You have permanent license key with the maintenance expiration date of January 31, 2012.

This key will work for any product software versions released on or before January 31, 2012. If you intend to use a product version released after January 31, 2012, you must purchase and apply a Renewal Order to the existing license file. This can only be done through the License Key Center.

If your license key expiration is permanent, you can use the keys permanently. However, it might be limited to versions with corresponding valid S&S renewal dates.

Note: The original License Order and Associated Renewal Order have to be registered on the same IBM Site ID. To apply the renewal order and upgrade the license keys, the orders must reside on the same License Key Center account ID

I am sure you have seen multiple download buttons after adding Rational Tokens to existing Token server using the License Key Center, wondering why – please find the details below.

IBM Rational License Key Center captures the activity with the date history. When more tokens are added to the existing server on different intervals, Rational License Key Center records the number of Tokens assigned to the server and the date when it was generated.

This helps you to determine the total number of token to be used during the import of the license key on the server.

For Example: Screen shot 1 will show you how the download page looks on license key center when initially100 Tokens are generated for a given server on the July 3rd 2014.

Now, as and when the requirement for Tokens increases the License key center administrator logs in to the center to add more Tokens

Example: 100 more on a 8th of July, I see 2 download buttons.

What is important here is the date that the key center captures to maintain history of number of Tokens used on different dates. So on the July 8th the license key was generated for 200 Tokens irrespective of which Download button you choose.

Note: The license keys get appended when more tokens are added to the existing server, so ideally there is no difference in quantity between the two download buttons.

In order to generate real time reports in ART tool, you need consistent and accurate data of License server logs. It is the log file that record license checkout,check-in,denial and other critical data used to generate reports in ART tool.Prior to RLKS 8142, each time when you restart License server service, it overwrite existing content of log(lmgrd) file with new data.

Seeing loss of critical log data, a new log mechanism was developed and implemented in RLKS ART 8.1.4.2. Let me give you a brief high level overview of ART tool before we dive deep into the new log mechanism implemented in 8.1.4.2.

RLKS Admin agent
In order to do license usage reporting of a License server, you would have to install RLKS Agent on each license server machine.When you run “RLKS Admin Agent” service, it starts converting license server log (lmgrd) file data into RDF/TTL files per hour. In the background, these files are used by ART server to generate license usage reports.

RLKS ART server
ART server pulls up data from “Admin Agent” machine to generate reports. It polls RLKS Admin Agent every 60 seconds. You can generate various kinds of license usage reports like Peak usage, Peak denial, and Token distribution etc. for floating and token licenses over a period of time. A typical deployment scenario of ART is shown below:

Now you have a high level overview of ART tool, let me explain how you can kick in new log mechanism on a License server. It starts when you click ‘Start Reporting’ (as shown below) service against the respective License server in ART reporting tool. This action also creates below mentioned files under the installation directory of License server:

ibmratl_TIMESTAMP.log
Existing log(lmgrd) file switch to a new file having the name ibmratl_TIMESTAMP.log. Floating and Token license checkout and check-in information goes inside this file. Each ibmratl_TIMESTAMP.log file can store a maximum of 500M of data. Once the file touches its max limit, it switches and creates a new ibmratl_TIMESTAMP.log file.

lmgrd.log.backup
The RLKS Agent checks if a backup file(lmgrd.log.backup) exists for the configured log file. If the backup file exists, the file continues to be used as a backup.

Options file
This file is created if it is not present in the installation directory of license server and adds below content in the file.

This functionality assures that data in the Rational License Key Server log files are not overwritten when the Rational License Key Server is restarted, either as part of a planned shutdown or during the import of new license file. In a longer period of time, you can track your license data and generate real time license usage reports at any point of time with minimal chances of error.